Olga by Bernhard Schlink, translated by Charlotte Collins
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2020. ISBN: 9781474611145.
(Age: Adult) Highly recommended. Schlink's novel begins in early
20th century Prussia, with the story of Olga, the strange girl who
liked to observe; and then Herbert, the boy who tripped forward in
his eagerness to go somewhere else. We read of how they are drawn to
each other, the impoverished orphan and the privileged aristocrat,
of how she thirsts for knowledge and he thirsts for adventure, but
perhaps different forms of the same thing. Part 1 is the outline of
their relationship; part 2 is Olga's later life as seamstress in the
family of the young boy Ferdinand; and then part 3 is the discovery
of Olga's long lost letters to her love, finally filling out the
picture with all the secrets previously unknown.
Schlink grapples with questions of how could someone love a person
involved in colonial African massacre, how could someone love a Nazi
SS officer in charge of torture, how could it happen? Any of our
preconceived stereotypes give way to the stories of real people
struggling to understand and care for one another, sharing ideas and
aspirations, lovers overcoming separation, and the complexities of
parent relationships with child.
Olga's life is one of coming to grips with loss, lost love, lost
relationships. But in the end, she determines to make her own
statement, one we only discover in a surprising twist in the last
pages. Schlink the master storyteller brings it all together neatly
at the end, but I challenge any reader to let it rest there; I had
to go back and read the story all over again and just marvel at the
subtlety with which the author gradually reveals more and more of
the story.
Some aspects of the book reminded me of The
Dutch house by Ann Patchett (2019), a completely
different story in a different setting, but what the two novels
share is their portrayal of how children perpetuate the
characteristics of their parents, even those aspects that most
alienate them. And both novels explore themes of love, loss and
obsession.
Olga is an unusually constructed novel, it gives one version of the
story and then like a paintbrush over a painting, we are given
another layer and then yet another. Each layer enriches our
understanding. It is an intellectually rewarding novel to savour and
think about long afterwards.
Themes: Love, Loss, Imperialism, Politics, Parent child
relationship.
Helen Eddy